Work Ethos Or Counter-Ideology of Work? Danuta Walczak-Duraj*
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Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociolog y 7:1(13) Spring 2016 Warsaw School of Economics; Collegium of Socio-Economics; Institute of Philosophy, Sociolog y and Economic Sociolog y Work Ethos or Counter-ideology of Work? Danuta Walczak-Duraj* Abstract While attempting to answer a question in the title of this paper !rst of all, basic intentions that inspired to formulate such a topic should be explained. "e bottom line is whether in the re#ections of representatives of sociology of work or sociology of economy, referring to contextual perception and analysis of labour relations in Poland, some focus should be put on the issues concerning rede!ning the essence and content of work ethos, or rather on an analysis of a set of factors, both of endogenic and exogenous nature, which contribute to a broadly understood counter-ideology of work. "erefore, this paper presents an attempt to indicate twofold types of phenomena and processes; on the one hand, those that in#uence a process of individualization and fragmentation of work ethos in Poland; on the other one, those which a$ect content of major motivation and interpretation schemes mentioned by employees, which may become presumptions to the development of counter-ideology of work. In such circumstances, a role of work ethos in creating economic harmony, which is a special case of axionormative harmony, decreases signi!cantly and loses its explicitly social character while increasingly becoming only one of dimensions of individual identity, professional biography or a personality pro!le of an individual. Key words: work ethos, counter-ideology of work, market labour system, work content, form of work, form of employment, freelancing * Uniwersytet Łódzki; [email protected] 8 Danuta Walczak-Duraj Introduction A basic problem that arises while trying to identify such phenomena and processes, particularly while attempting to show their moderating impact on work ethos and counter-ideology, is that a repertoire of leading notions and terms used so far in the analysis of opinions, attitudes and behaviour patters referring to work, understood as a set of relatively systematic, sequentially undertaken by an individual, activities, perceived and undertaken by both, representatives of employees’ world as well as employers’ world, is no longer su" cient. It, # rst of all, results from the fact that signi# cant changes have occurred, both in the content of contemporary work as well as in forms of work or employment (see more in Walczak-Duraj, $%&&a, $%&&b, $%&)). + at is why increasingly o/ en in social sciences (sociology and economics, in particular) one can observe two distinct approaches to de# ning and analyzing work as such. In one of these approaches work is perceived subjectively and individuals performing work are treated mostly in a category of human resources that have to be managed appropriately. In the other approach that can be described as humanistic, yet, not in a traditional meaning, one can # nd more diverse interpretations referring not only to social e0 ects of work, but its treatment it as a form of human activity that not only changes a man and diverse social micro-worlds of speci# c categories or professional groups, but it also serves to build own identity. Wh at constitutes, # rst of all, a characteristic outline of this approach is a language referring to a description of work, full of marketing and auto-creative stylistics, in which quite incidentally, relations to a group and ethical perspective appear. What must be also indicated are polysemy and extent of the notion of work used in numerous sociological sub-disciplines, in particular in contemporary interpretative sociology that develops e.g. a concept of work over identity (see, inter alia, Strauss &123). In that last approach a notion of work is treated as a set of actions connected with using speci# c interactive strategies by an individual, whereas individual’s biography is treated, above all, as a speci# c case study of a life career (including professional career) – see, inter alia, E. Hughes ($%%1). A separate and extremely important issue here are methodological matters that result from multiparadigmatism of sociology related mainly to the development of the most adequate research methods and techniques used to diagnose broadly understood issues relating to experience of work of an individual, including a place of work in an individual’s system of values. + e basic problem is that quantitative, standardized research methods and techniques that o/ en ful# ll a requirement of Work Ethos or Counter-ideology of Work? 9 representativeness (e.g. a survey or a questionnaire interview used by majority of institutions conducting surveys) for various reasons are not able to provide su" ciently deepened results so that processes or phenomena that on the one hand, concur to individualization of work ethos, and on the other one, to explicit symptoms of counter-ideology of work, could be identi# ed on their basis. 1. From Social to Individualizing Work Ethos In current traditional approaches, usually in line with etymology, a notion of ethos was generally of culture and group nature. Work ethos referred mainly to relatively consistent system of values, norms, group attitudes and behaviour patterns, in which highly valued work and its leading attributes were the basic criterion of moral evaluation of an individual and a basic rule organizing social life. Here, a classic example is an autobiographical and at the same time, ethnographic study by Jan Szczepański entitled Korzeniami wrosłem w ziemię ($%%5), in which that prominent # gure of Polish sociology wrote about work in the following words (many a time using a term − labour): ‘A man lived in order to work i.e. to perform work allocated to them. Labour was the most signi# cant part of their life. … It was also a measurement of individual’s value, everyday test of their capabilities. ... Besides labour was a con# rmation of a moral value of a chie/ ain and his family. A hard- working man was a good man. It was labour that constituted religious alliance with God… Labour that was too exhausting was a torment o0 ered to God. Fruits of labour that brought wealth and satisfaction, richness and comfort were signs of God’s kindliness. Additionally, labour determined a place of a man, particularly, a family, in a local community’ (Szczepański $%%5: 5) −53) . A complement to these analyses, in which work ethos represented a general framework of community lifecycle, habits, life style in its various forms, can be a fragment concerning such a simple activity, nowadays deprived of any additional meanings, as washing: ‘Washing – it was an activity of washing linen and a word „prodło” meant all washed items but # rst of all, washing was a sublime ritual performed according to tradition, carefully, accurately, almost reverently. Cleanness of body, underwear, linen ,6 oors, cleanness of whitewashed walls – everything altogether became almost a symbol and indicated purity of a man’s soul. Cleanness of worn items was a kind of a measurement of a man’s value. Hence, one can talk about the dignity of washing’ (Ibidem: 32). 10 Danuta Walczak-Duraj A similar style was applied to describe contemplations concerning harvest: ‘+ at word meant a lot. It meant hard work but also ful# llment (Ibidem: 52), or rest that … was justi# ed by work and fatigue … and which … was not only regeneration of energy for further work, but also a break for social life …’ (Ibidem: 7)). Moreover, as Jan Szczepański puts it, relaxation had another, deeper meaning consisting in a process of integration of local community, in keeping disinterested bonds between neighbors and family members. ‘Relaxation was not only about … sti0 ness of joints or torn muscles. Relaxation was necessary for other alliance – with people. If labour constituted grounds for humanity, relaxation among fellow human beings was its ful# llment’ (Ibidem: 73–77). It proves absolutely obvious while taking into consideration both, a historic time and contents of social ethics of Protestantism, which were dominant in Cieszyn Silesia where Jan Szczepański spent childhood and early youth, and where work was perceived in ethical-sacral categories, linked with a rule of predestination that such a distinct and coherent work ethos was virtually of ‘island’ nature. However, its leading contents organized a community life of many socio-professional groups in other areas of Poland and also at a later date. Yet, it is di" cult to refer to results of sociological studies from the interwar period and concerning that issue as such studies were not conducted and results of the other ones, e.g. carried out by Ludwik Krzywicki from &15%’s of the $% th century, based on biographical method (competition in diaries) and concerning the unemployed of the times of Great Depression, can present only highly borrowed sources of information which may present a basis to conduct diagnosis and interpretations concerning work ethos in interwar Poland. Furthermore, one may risk a thesis that bigger opportunities of reconstruction of contents of work ethos in various socio-professional groups at the end of the &1th century and interwar period when the fundamentals of industrial society were created in Poland, were described in the literature or other, more or less common forms of mass media (press in particular) rather than in scienti# c papers, especially in the papers of just developing Polish sociology. Hence, when in interwar period, within a new political system, a systematic promotion of work ideology was introduced and work ethos resulting from its leading assumptions, mainly work ethos of working class, there was no consent among researchers concerning both, what the content of previous work ethos was, and even, whether any work ethos could have been discussed earlier at all. Simultaneously, as an increasing number of dysfunctions and pathologies appeared in the socialist system, many researchers and thinkers not only raised an issue concerning negative transformations within a formed and forming work ethos (ethos in statu nascendi ), but also a problem of its crisis.